A Room with a View Books

If you want a really nice edition that is easy to read (pages lie flat,book not too heavy,and my copy is without blemish) this is it.

Forster's wit, irony, and well-drawn characters make this an enjoyable read. If you're not used to reading pieces from this period, you may need to warm up to the style, but once you do, you'll enjoy this.

Followed the PBS special almost to the word but the book's ending was much better.

E.M. Forster does a remarkable job of illustrating the constricting social values of Edwardian England with humor and acute insight. Our heroine must decide: go along and get along or shirk her "dutites" and chose a life of remarkable rebellion (for the time).
You'll want your own trip to Italy when you're through reading! One of my absolute favorites.

Edward Morgan Foster (1879-1970) lived a long life as a Cambridge don and world traveler. However, most of this author's fiction was completed in the first 20 years of the 20th century. "A Room With a View" is a gently satirical view of the English abroad and at home in the late Edwardian Age. Perhaps we can view England as the cozy room of normality and routine while the sunny Italian landscape provides us a view of a wider world outside our usual gaze.
The short novel is divided into two parts. In part one we are introduced to a group of English travelers in Italy. We meet Charlotte
an old maid aunt who is chaperoning the upper middle class young lady the fetching Lucy Honeychurch. (Charlotte reminds one of the governess types described with right on accuracy by Charlotte Bronte). The women want a good view of Florence so reluctantly switch rooms with Mr. Emerson (a dreamy transcendentalist like older man who reminds us of the philisophical musings of Concord sage Ralph Waldo Emerson) and his stra handsome son George. (George is to become a knight saving Lucy from the clutches of the effete snob aesthete Cyril Vise). On a sightseeing picnic Lucy and George kiss and then depart. Lucy goes to Rome meeting her future fiance the artistic and bookish Cyril.
Part II is set in England. After several complications the course of true love is finally set on its right course. Lucy jilts Cyril and finds true bliss with George. The novel is cyclicalbeginning in spring and ending with Lucy Honeychurch's honeymoon with George. This occurs in the same Florentine hotel in which they met. A year has passed and it is spring again for these young lovers.
Forster provides a gallery of colorful characters: Mr Beebe the clergyman who hopes Lucy dumps Cyril for George; Eleanor Lavish a comically drawn mystery writer; Lucy's brother Fred and a Cockney hotel owner in Florence.
Forster wishes to open the stuffy door of Victorian fiction with a new frankness on sexuality and freedom of expression. His scene in which the major male characters bathe in a pond is an example of this theme. Forster favors physical and intimate love to the aesthetic passionless p love which Vise has for Lucy. George is athletic and earthy while Vise is a nerdy bookworm. Forster's book is good in the use of witty dialogue. His understanding of the British class system leads him to satirical comments on its rigidity.
A quibble. The characters don't have much depth seeming to be actors in a stage presentation. Forster is worth reading for his advocacy of true love and emotion in a society of elaborate and often hypocritcal rules. He is a good author worthy of your time.

We are spoiled by modern fiction. As great as the writing is, it is more straightforward and literal. Do you ever find yourself starting a classic and not finishing it??? You weren't getting into it immediately and lost interest. It can be the same with old movies. We watch through different eyes than the time when it was written or produced. My book club did this book this month. We all struggled. I chose this one because I wanted us to try a classic, but I wanted it to be short and pleasant. The "flow" started later, and it was more laboured to get there.It is so worth it to keep with it. It is not that we are not capable of understanding the language. We are so used to graphic, and explicit, and straightforward language. We need to train our brains, and it can take up to half the book to get to the point where you are really drawn in, forgetting to concentrate and just enjoying the ride.This is truly a lovely story. I love Florence. It is a timeless city that infects you body and soul. So will this book if you let it.

I hadn't read anything by Argula before, and it took a while to get used to this writer's style. Some of her use of the English language was different, like putting, "Ain't?" at the end of sentences, for instance. (I guess that is a regional thing?). At first, I didn't understand that what she was describing were her hot flashes. Once I got beyond all of that, though, and settled into it, the story grew on me and I was eager to find out what happened and who had killed the girl.

There are parts of this story that just stay with you afterwards, too shocking to readily forget. The guy who turned himself in had suffered abuses that were so sadistic that I almost wished I hadn't read about them.

I thought I had the ending figured out, but was surprised that I'd picked the wrong perpetrator after all.

Argula shared really interesting descriptions of Seattle, and her characters were believable. I particularly liked the three Indians and how they fit into the story line.

This book would make a good movie, fast-paced, suspenseful and slightly sentimental.

Finally...a new series with promise! Quinn is a 3-dimensional character who practically bounces off the page. I love her combination of cynical wisdom -- product of her experience as a cop and her divorce -- and very human weaknesses. She's very open about her hot flashes but not to the point where we wonder if we've stumbled on a women's magazine by mistake. She's just seedy enough to render homage to the classic PI literature -- living in Pioneer Square, struggling for clients -- but driving a nice car (a "divorce present").

Quinn meets some interesting people: Arnie, who runs a mysterious business with three "angels" helping him; Bernard the ticket scalper; and Vincent, her special buddy who fears he's getting Alzheimers. She gets involved in a plausible way with the murder of a sweet young girl, someone who worked in the same building. And she more or less stumbles on the murderer and brings him to justice, though not without some tragic consequences along the way.

True mystery aficionados will guess the ending because Argula follows the conventions of detective stories. That's not a negative at all. I admire authors who treat their readers fairly.

I also like Argula's writing: enough surprises to avoid standard cliches but not so many that we're forced to stop and notice. Good mystery writing is almost invisible: we're engrossed with the story, as we should be.

Since I live in Seattle, I appreciate the lovingly detailed setting: Eilliott Bay Bookstore, Pioneer Square, rain, and seasons. I must say I haven't noticed the Pacific NW tendency to politely avoid digging into people's backgrounds, but I'll pay more attention next time.

Just two quibbles. Quinn remains the only fully developed character, and easily the only sympathetic character. I didn't notice till I was writing this review, and it's very common in the genre. And wouldn't Quinn be getting a pension from the Spokane police department? She seems to have put in enough years to qualify.

But the biggest complaint I have is, we have to wait almost a whole year to get the next volume in the series.

Quinn's husband has left her, but her hot flashes have not. She has retired from the police force, moved to Seattle and become a private investigator for Vincent, a mitigation lawyer who worked to keep convicted murders off death row. A young secretary, who works in another office, has disappeared and her boss has hired Quinn to find her. When her body is found and a man arrested, a conflict arises as most people what him executed, while Vincent's job is to prevent it. Caught between the two, Quinn doesn't believe the man is the actual killer.

Argula is an interesting writer whose second book has some great strengths and weaknesses. Quinn is a fascinating character, a transplant from Pennsylvania whose regional dialogue makes her distinctive. But it's her philosophies and viewpoint that make her particularly appealing. Her boss, Vincent, presents a different attitude and perspective to the death penalty than we normally see but, as a character, I didn't find him particularly appealing. The greatest weakness was that I identified the killer almost immediately, and that always disappoints me. Argula is an interesting writer with a unique voice. Although I preferred her first book, "Homicide, My Own," I recommend giving her a try and will definitely read her next book.

Walla Walla Suite is an excellent and modern take on detective fiction. It has some hard boiled aspects to it, but really it's more of a three minute egg; the core of the novel is soft under the hard exterior. Maybe that's a better explanation of the main character, Quinn, a woman of a certain age whose tough, ex-cop public persona is tempered by a melancholic wisdom. There is a sense of loss surrounding her that is logical considering her history, but she isn't needy. She's cagey and funny and bright.

I don't want to reveal any more about the plot than has been mention above, but, being a big fan of detective novels, especially Laura Lippman and Sara Paretsky--both of whom endorse this book--I really liked this book. I have already recommended it to most of my friends.

I knew and admired this author in her "previous life." Argula's hot-flashing - and hard-boiled - PI protagonist, Quinn, intimates early on her belief in reincarnation, which goes back (at least) to her previous adventures in "Homicide My Own." That perfect ear for dead-on real dialogue (from that previous life) is still intact, along with a real feel for the seedy-side-of-Seattle setting, making you feel like that fly on the wall in every scene. Both of Argula's books read like skillfully-wrought screenplays (or perhaps TV scripts). My choice for the role of Quinn? Christine Lahti - a thinking-man's babe, particularly for us older guys. Walla Walla Suite will appeal to all fans of the mystery genre, but particularly to older readers, with its oblique references to the 70s and its wry, careworn heroine. As for the almost love interest, Vincent Ainge? Too beautiful. Write on, Ms. Argula. I expect to soon see Quinn mentioned often in the same breath with PI icons like Robicheaux, Scudder and C.W. Sugrhue. - Tim Bazzett, author of the ReedCityBoy trilogy and Love, War & Polio.

All you have to do to see a photograph by Bruce Weber is look in any glossy magazine or on any big city billboard or in the Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue. These are his works for advertising, but there is much more to Weber. "Hotel Room With a View" is one of the paperbound photography collections in the Smithsonian series and is, as usual with this series, superb. The fascinating, informative interview with Weber (uncredited interviewer!!) lets us know where, why, when he gets his inspiration and how he makes it happen. Alot of the pictures in this book are of celebrities like Brad Pitt, Chet Baker, Axl Rose, Harry Connick, but there are also a good number of examples of Weber's unknown models, animals and even a few color landscapes. There is also a brief bio and technical info for other photographers.

I have to say that I was a little disappointed when I received my copy of this book. I am a devoted Bruce Weber fan, but I found this book to lack any sense of cohension or purpose. It was a montage of photos - kinda like a "best of" without any of his best photos really included. I guess I expected it to be similar to "Bear Pond," "Chop Suey Club," or even the A&F catalogues. It was not. There are much better examples of his talent out there - don't lose any sleep if you miss a this one.

As a photographer who basically idolizes the work of Bruce Weber, I know I have a strong bias for anything he releases. Yet, this book is a great insight into the mind of Weber by having interviews at the begining of the book. These interviews with Weber came at the early part of his fame so it also shows a very realistic and down toearth Weber that is not so affected by fame like some other photographers. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who wants to know more than your basics about what Weber is about, or at least at that time was about.

What I remembered from this novel was the opera scene (still glorious) and the tragic climax (still brutal so that I slowed down coming up to it in hopes of preventing its appearance). What I forgot was how witty it was, how warm, how accomplished for such an early novel in a writer's career. In short, it was actually better than I remembered, a rare accomplishment for an author I love so much. Not as magnificent as Proust nor as fine a writer as James, but equally as wise as both and much more welcoming than either.

In E. M. Forster's first novel, an effete English family and their acquaintances encounter an authentic and vital society in the hills of Italy. Vacuous Lilia visits Monteriano in Tuscany and impulsively marries. She realizes her mistake too late to save herself but her English in-laws attempt to rescue the issue of her marriage. Upon arriving in Monteriano, they find that their wealth and education count for less than they thought. Rigid Harriett breaks herself against the local culture and provokes a tragedy, but the more sensitive members of the rescue party, Philip and Miss Abbott, profit in ways that they did not expect.

Forster uses a quiet, simple style that lets the reader be moved by his rather sudden plot revelations. While this is a short novel, Forster finds room for a sincere appreciation of the charms of fictional Monteriano and some gentle humor. I imagine that this very approachable novel would appeal to many different types of readers.

The first novel written by E. M. Forster is a perfect introduction to his fiction. He is not yet a master so he will not frighten you off with his form and style but he will gently let you see the world the way he saw it. This relatively small and slight book can make a charming read if you are sensitive enough to detect delicate mood changes, notice off-hand remarks which reveal the true meaning of the story. The style and language alone make it worth your time.
And yet there is more to it. It is a book about "us" and "the other". Philosophers have pondered on the issue for years and brought hefty volumes of studies but Forster can make it without unnecessary ado. This history of an English widow who did not fit in affluent suburb and, when sent abroad, married an Italian youth only to become the victim of his macho ways will certainly make you think. The second part - the unfortunate family rescue operation sent to save a baby from being brought up in wrong faith and wrong part of the world will also be food for thought. Have we changed really? Are we ready to accept that other people's ways may be as good as ours? Forster leaves these questions unanswered and the ending open - you have to fill in the blanks of the novel and the way you see the world.

This book suffers from dated style and tone. Also, its one of those book where nothing much happens until EVERYTHING happens. Still, the characters are drawn with universal qualities and weaknesses and so it was a book to which I could relate. Forester is a subtle master in developing the theme that everyone is different than what they initially appear to be. A cad really can be a gentleman in disguise. "Angels" is a worthwhile read.

If one wishes to learn how Britain's rich entertained, lived and acted during the turn of the century, E.M. Forster and Evelyn Waugh deliver depictions as well as anyone of their generation.

This book delves little with interpersonal thoughts. Instead, it deals with dialogue. Rich, gooey, luscious dialogue where the characters reveal their characters, their thoughts, their inner beings by what words they choose to deliver to others.

In the staid world of turn-of-the-century Britain, the dialogue must be masterfully written as the people did not directly say what they felt. They were polite, but in a cold British manner. And, Forster's ability to write that type of British dialogue is unrivaled.

Additionally, this book - which is amid the wonderfully warm Italy - delivers a great ethical question: what to do with a baby born of a British mother (who dies in child birth) related to very impudent and snobby persons residing in the outskirts of London. Who does he belong to? His wealthy British relatives where he will be brought up well but little loved? Or with his loving Italian stallion 23-year-old father who has little money, knows nothing of rearing children and probably would fail (at least in a British perspective) in raising the child?

Forster delivered a similar ethical issue in "Howards End" where the last wish of a dying wife to her husband of many years (through oral bequest and written - but unwitnessed note - which contradicts her written will) is not followed by her husband and family who wish to keep their inheritance in exchange for dishonoring the matriarch's last wishes.

But, each issue is not finished with the sudden first response. In each book, more events occur which gloss the issue.

Read this book soon in time to "A Room With A View." Italy obviously touched Forster - this book and "Room With A View" are its derivatives. Thank you Italy for being you to Forster, who wrote that Italy ". . . sent me going as novelist."

Actually I have more than one edition of both of these stories. Room With A View is totally wonderful but I have to say that I read the book, watched the movie and then read the book again. After I had watched the new version of the movie I had to go back and watch the old one (Merchant and Ivory) to clear the newer out of my head-though some may prefer that one. Howards End is probably a better,more substantial story but RWAV is so perfectly balanced and beautiful. I like both. Also just finished reading Where Angels Fear to Tread and it is kind of wacky! The author was just learning how he wanted to write on that one. The movie would be pretty funny.

A Room With A View is a warm treasure of a novel that embraces life and the love of it.

I found Howard's End to be quite the opposite: cold and distant, and all the worse for it.

Two sides of Forster, I prefer the former.

Forget Dickens, forget Austen, for the most English of authors Edward Morgan Forster was , to me, the most gifted English author of all time. He wrote in wonderful sentences with Beautiful words. 'Room with a View' starts at an English Guest house in Florenece. Lucy Honeychurch and her cousin Charlotte are among the guests, and are given a room with a view by the Impulsive Emmersons, George and his father. Lucy is the central character, and shortly witnesses a murder, but is immediately comforted by George Emmerson who later kisses her on on outing to the hills. The story then returns to England and the Emmersoms have taken residence near Lucy Honeychurch's house. This is not only a wonderful love story, but a first rate tale of Social comedy. 'Howard's End' is in the same vein. It starts with the words ' Only Connect' which everyone should adhear to.The Wilcoxes are pragmatic, stoic, and Enlgish to the Backbone. The Schelegl's are Half-German, Cultural and artistic. So what happens when such opposites meet? Helen Schlegel falls for Paul Wilcox, but it is her sister Margaret's relationship with both Mr and Mrs Wilcox which is the heart of this book in which you will find that opposites do attract. Forster also wrote only three other novels - ' Whre Angels fear to tread', 'The Longest Journay' and 'A Passage to India'. A lesser known work is 'Maurice' , a tale of homosexuality which could be his own. 'Where Angels..' , 'A Room..' and 'Howard's End' were made into top rate films by Mercahnt Ivory. ' A Passage..' was the last film David Lean ever made. But it is the book where the ture beauty of Forster shines.

Warning: the copy of the Signet edition of Room with a View and Howards End that I recieved was missing pages 51-82 of Howards End.

These have to be the best books which Forster wrote- witty, satirical and enjoyable. The message of 'only connect' and the portrayal of 'the undeveloped heart' of the English middle classes are brought to the fore. With symbolism, excellent characterisation and enthralling plots, these 'bildungsroman' show Forster to be an erudite and consummate writer.

If you loves reading a love story, this book is an interesting one. It gives us a clear picture of middle-class life in England on hundred year ago. We can see the inportance that was given to social position and appropriated behaviour. Besides, it is a good gramma that can learn and applied it for daily life. This book is about the girl who struggle to make sense of her feelings towards the two very different men in her life. Let us find out what does she do for this problem?

I'm not sure what I expected when I ordered this book -- probably an art book with erotic overtones -- but the product failed to please on either count. If you're looking for art photography you can pass on this one. The photos are reasonably well made from a technical standpoint but there are only so many ways to make self-portraits of a pretend motel slut before the idea becomes tiring. Good eye-candy though.

Ms. Fur has done a wonderful job finding the most horrible American motel interiors to ironically juxtapose against her beautifully stunning figure. The photos are clever and beautifully composed. The tension between the curvaceous Ms. Fur and her various nightmarish decorating environs are delightfully delicious. I would hope that this is just the first foray into photography for Ms. Fur as her eye for a beautiful photograph is unquestionable.

The first time I tried to read this and failed I assumed that maybe I was distracted and would try again later. The second time I convinced myself that I had too many books on the go at the one time. The third time I told myself that I was too busy to give it the time it deserved. Frankly, I have now learnt that if you need to try for the fourth time to read something and have to force yourself to keep turning the page it is a bad sign.

This is frankly the only book that I have purchased that I not only don't want anymore - but I don't want to inflict it on anyone else by giving it to charity. The story was woeful. The characters are impossible to like or in any way relate to. This is my quiet warning. If you are simply looking for a good read you are wasting your time here.

Charlotte Bartlett and Lucy Honeychurch feel their accomodations in Florence are such that they may as well be in England. Part of Charlotte's traveling expenses are being paid by Lucy's mother. George Emerson and Mr. Emerson are willing to change their rooms at the Pension Bertolini so that Lucy and Charlotte will have a better view.

On the following day when Lucy's sightseeing companion departs and takes the Baedeker with her Lucy joins forces with Mr. Emerson and George. They lead her to the Giotto at Santa Croce. On a rainy day Lucy plays the piano at the pension. George and his father don't fit in with others at the pension. In true English fashion this is a matter of class. Lucy finds her cousin and chaperone, Charlotte, tiresome.

The scene shfits to England. The travelers have returned. Lucy's mother likes Lucy's suitor Cecil because she knows his mother. Cecil is self-conscious, ascetic. He became interested in Lucy when he encountered her in Rome. Lucy is not given to criticizing people, but Cecil is. Lucy and her family have been surrounded by the best people at their home, Windy Corner. Mr. Honeychurch, a barrister or solicitor, had settled in the neighborhood before it had many houses in it.

A local clergyman knows that Cecil Vyse likes thwarting people. Mr. Emerson and his son are to take a house near Windy Corner pursuant to Cecil's machinations to play a joke on someone. Charlotee has made a promise to Lucy she breaks, freeing Lucy to seek her true interests in her relationship with others. Speaking to George causes Lucy to dismiss Cecil as her suitor, and speaking to Mr. Emerson causes Lucy to follow her true bent to achieve happiness.

E.M. Forster is one of the masters of the English novel. He follows the genius of the master novelist of the previous century, Jane Austen.

Mobility & The First Architecture Biennale In Rotterdam.
Take a look at any major city or small village today, and you'll find that road building dominates the view from any moving vehicle. Highways, flyovers, tunnels, off ramps and airports are clearly indicating a new form of urban re-organization that is currently taking place everywhere.

Mirroring Norman Bel Geddes Futurama Exhibition (Highways & Horizons) at the 1939 World Fair in New York, the First Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam is a city wide attempt to understand how mobility and its infrastructure are radically transforming everyday life. As a record of the Biennale and the symposium held at the Netherlands Architecture Institute in the Spring 2003, Mobility: A Room with a View is organized as a research project to find new meaning in the generic aspects of modern infrastructure and the local conditions of urban ommunities. The purpose of the book daylights one of the most marginalized space in the history of the twentieth century: the street. Void of nostalgic intention, co-editors Houben & Calabrese collect the work of over 25 academic research projects completed over the past year to build the foundation of a new spatial order that situates itself somewhere between the circumstances of congestion, traffic and sprawl. Professor of Mobility & Urbanism at TU Delft and trained at IUAV in Italy, Luisa Maria Calabrese delivers a sweeping historical survey of postwar architectural visions in the first part of the book that by and large sets up the polemic of the Biennale. As a strategy, Calabrese appropriates past and present realities to inflect the possible outcome of a more immediate, more satisfying future. Debunking the myth of scenic highways, the second part of the book World Avenue visualizes new roadway conditions in 10 different cities while privileging the emergent, the odd and the curious. The final part of the book draws a historical cross-section through the past one hundred years of highway construction in North America and Europe. From Haussmann to Hitler, the historiographic detour exposes hidden paradoxes and contradictions that have led in part to the explosion of modern highway infrastructure.

The First Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam emerges at a critical time for the fields of design: a period where the role of the architect has been relinquished to that of interior decorator or cosmetic surgeon, Calabrese & Houben position architects as influential leaders in the field of urbanism through the paradigm of mobility. Despite the worldwide interiorization of urban living, the editors' visions opens up a new horizon focused on the road as most latent alternative in the city today. Street culture as we know it, is probably more vibrant and more relevant that ever before.

The Rotterdam Architecture Biennale ran from May 1 to September 1, 2003 at the Netherlands Architecture Institute (www.1ab.nl). The exhibition included urban research (World Avenue) projects from Beirut, Jakarta, and Los Angeles as well as design projects (Holland Avenue) from selected universities including Columbia, Berkeley and Toronto. Mobility: A Room with a View (NAI Publishers, 2003) is edited by Francine Houben and Maria Luisa Calabrese with contributions from Jan Van Adrichem, Joerg Retikke, Pierre Bélanger, Odile Odecq and Paul Meurs.